La-Roche-en-Ardenne WWII Museum, Belgium
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The bridge of La-Roche-en-Ardenne. In 1944 La-Roche-en-Ardenne was liberated by the Americans. During their retreat, he Germans blew up the bridges. The Americans however, did rebuild one of the bridges. When the Battle of the Bulge started the Germans raced … Read More

Berlin, Tiergarten & Holocaust monument – Germany
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Reflections. Near the Reichstag, the seat of the German government, there are two places you can reflect your thoughts and deeds. The first is the Tiergarten. It is a large park in the center of Berlin. If you walk here, … Read More

Normandy, Utah Beach American sector – France
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Utah Beach. A mighty fleet of battleships, destroyers, mine sweepers and cruisers as well as troop transports went to Normandy. One of the beaches in Nomandy received the code name Utah Beach. Here the operation went almost according to plan. … Read More

Normandy, American Cemetery – France
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In Colleville-sur-Mer we visited a cemetery for American victims of the WWII Normandy landing. After the war, the families of the victims had a choice: either bringing their loved ones back to the US or leaving them in France to … Read More

Krakow, Jewish Quarter and Schindler’s Factory – Poland
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Holocaust. Krakow is a beautiful city. It has a medieval center and lots of landmarks. Unfortunately most people know Krakow only from the film Schindler’s list. Krakow had a large Jewish population. During the war- years most of them where … Read More

IJmuiden, Batterie Heerenduin & Olmen
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Atlantic Wall. During WWII the Germans built several defence works and fortifications to protect themselves from the Allied Forces. Battery Heerenduin and Battery Olmen belonged to this so-called ‘Atlantic Wall’. You can find them near the harbour city of IJmuiden … Read More

Auschwitz II-Birkenau German Death Camp – Poland
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Birkenau. In the Autumn of 1941, 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war arrived at the site of Auschwitz 2 Birkenau. Their job was to build the concentration camp. During the winter most of them died. Over the next years more than … Read More

Auschwitz 1, German Main Camp where it all started – Poland
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Auschwitz 1. When Germany invaded Poland they killed most of the educated people, to make sure that nobody could revolt. After a few months, they found out that the resistance had not disappeared. To punish the Polish people that revolted … Read More

Normandy, Sainte-Mère-Église, liberated by 109th Airborne – France
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Sainte-Mère-Église. During the night of 5 June 1944 a huge fleet of airplanes came to Europe. Bombers bombed strategic places. Transport planes delivered the airborne divisions. They were shattered over Normandy and no unit landed on its intended landing place. … Read More

Normandy, Batterie Longues-sur-Mer – France
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Batterie Longues-sur-Mer. During D-Day this batterie was a prime objective, because it could shell both Gold and Omaha Beach. Therefore a few cruisers of the Allied Forces opened fire to take out this batterie. The guns went silent after a … Read More

Normandy, Pointe du Hoc taken by the Rangers – France
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Pointe du Hoc. On 6th of June in the early morning the US Rangers climbed the walls of the cliff to start fighting. After they had fought themselves into the gun emplacements, the guns they had to take out were … Read More

Normandy, Omaha Beach – France
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Omaha Beach. The most memorable D-Day took place on the 6th of June 1944. This opening day of Operation Overlord goes by the name Operation Neptune. Under the code name Omaha the US Army wanted to take five beaches in … Read More

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